Cross-cultural Continuities and Discontinuities in Shame, Guilt, and Pride: A Study of Children Residing in Japan, Korea and the USA

In a study of 144 Japanese, 180 Korean, and 688 US children, grades 3–6, differential item functioning analysis supported the cross-cultural equivalence of the TOSCA-C measure of shame, guilt, and pride. Substantial differences were observed in the mean levels of shame, guilt and pride, with Japanese children scoring highest on shame, Korean children scoring highest on guilt, and US children scoring highest on pride. The pattern of correlations, however, was more similar than different across cultures. In all groups, shame-proneness was positively correlated with aggression-relevant constructs, whereas guilt-proneness was associated with a tendency to take responsibility for failures and transgressions.